Exotic Wild West
by tinytot
Summary: Dealing with a drunk she calls a father, friends using her home as a safe house from their families, and dealing with hardships of living in the midwest. What other drama could be added to Kagomes life? She got her answer the day fate through her face to


Ah, to any of you readers that read either of my other two stories; **Marked in Childhood** or **Spiral Stricken Lives**; I'm saying sorry here and now for not updating them. I had the urge to write this story out of no where plus a lot has been happening with life lately.

Mainly being I just found out I'm expecting my second child so if any of you readers out there have ever been pregnant then you know how the first few months are like; non-stop sleep and throwing up. Any who I really hope you enjoy this story! I'm enjoying writing it; I'm going to type the second chapter once this one is posted.

I don't own Inuyasha and co. etc...

Ah... p.s. I'm not sure if I want to make them demons and what not...since it really wouldn't seem right with this story... but I don't want to change the way they look so I'll leave it up to you guys. I suppose they can still be demon and just not... rely on their powers as much? Oh and... Sesshoumaru may seem a bit OOC but its just when hes around Kagome I promise. Any ways on wirh the story!

**The Meeting **

o0o0o0o 

"Don't you dare come back until you have my booze you stupid whore!" the sound of a door slamming told the figure currently laying in the dirt that it was safe to move once again.

Pulling herself to her feet and dusting off the now stained dress the young female looked around for the rest of her party. Letting out a puff of air she decided to just walk over to the horse stable instead of standing in front of the house on the off chance that bastard came back outside and used her once again as a punching bag.

"You know, a girl could die waiting around on you three." Meaning it as a joke she continued to walk toward the two figured before her which seemed to be having trouble hooking the horse up to the cart.

Another young woman turned her head toward the sound of the voice; eyes widening when finally landing on the younger of the two.

"Oh my god Kagome! Are you ok?" Running over to her the older female examined Kagomes now cut lip.

"You should know me better than that Kikyo. It'll take more than a few cuts for him to hurt me." Pulling her chin out of Kikyos hand Kagome wiped the blood of with the back of her hand.

"Uhm, do you two mind? I finally got Chef hooked up so we can go into town. The sooner we get back the sooner he'll be out cold from drinking." Nodding their heads at the young boy they all three jumped into the cart and made their way into town.

Kagome always liked when they were sent into town, it gave her time to think freely and with out _him_ ruining anything. And who is the he she is talking about? Soutas and hers dead beat drunk of a father. He hadn't always been so… useless.

Their life had once been a happy and rich filled one, until their mother '_run away'_. Well that's how their father puts it; in reality their mother had caught him cheating and well, he killed her so she wouldn't leave him. After hiding the body he just started the rumor that she had up and ran off with some stranger.

Kagome had believed it at first; if it wasn't for his drinking she would have probably never known the truth about her mother. He started drinking after 'the incident' and when passed out in a deep slumber… he has the tendency to talk.

She wanted to kill him but thankfully her cousin, Kikyo, had been there to stop her. They knew he would eventually drink himself to death. That was before the beatings and violence started, now the three teens hoped for something to happen to him.

She was grateful for having her cousin in her life now, at first when Kikyo and her younger sister Keade had come to live with them she was a little jealous, but Kikyo had grown on her and she now viewed her more like an older sister then a cousin.

Their father had been shot to death when he was trying to stop some bandits from robbing their home. Before they had spotted Kikyo or Keade their mother hid them beneath the floors; right after she had covered the hidden door with a rug they had drug her out of the house and done god knows what before shooting her as well.

Kikyo thankful didn't hear anything only told when she was older what exactly had happened to her beloved parents. Keade was to young to know what was happening. Kikyo was only a few years older than Kagome but she acted that of a mature woman. She was very calm and collective hardly ever lost her cool. She knew how to smooth over a heated situation; mainly between Kagome and Souta.

Souta was Kagomes younger full blooded brother. He was at the ripe age of 14 nearly a man in times. He had taken over the males' role of the house long before this though. Their father didn't bother to work anymore which meant the three of them needed to make the money.

Souta was in charge of chopping the wood, plowing the field and tending to the bigger animals. He also helped out the neighboring farms with building fences to bring in some money.

The girls of course made butter, offered to wash clothes for a fee, made jams and canned other food. Even though Souta deemed himself the hunter of the house, in all actuality all four of them went hunting together; Keade helping where she could.

Kikyo was excellent with a bow an arrow, Kagome could also use one but she preferred a shot gun herself.

o0o0o0o

"Kagome, you're doing it again." Kikyo stated as she waved her hand in front of her cousins face.

Swatting the moving object out of her way Kagome huffed. "What do we have to purchase again? _Besides moonshine_."

Souta tried to stop the laugh from coming from his mouth but it managed to slip past his lips.

Ruffling the young boys' hair Kikyo turned to look at Kagome was sitting in the back of the cart. "I know we need more flour and thread for any repairs needed for the clothes we wash. I'm not sure what else. We have a little extra money I think we should all buy ourselves something with it."

"I think a treat is long over due! Don't you agree Keade?" Kagome was beaming it had been a while since they had been able to buy anything for themselves.

"Yeah I know just what I'm going to bu---"he was cut off by a high pitched voice.

"Souta! Hey Souta wait up will ya!" The three looked to their left to see two figures running toward them.

"Hey Kohaku!" Souta waved to his best friend.

"Hey, mind giving me and Sango a lift?"

"Do we ever?" Kagome answered; reaching her hand out to help pull them up into the cart.

"What are you two doing with out your horses?" Kikyo asked curiously.

"Uhm well, you see…" Kohaku scratched the back of his head and suddenly found the sky interesting.

"They are fighting again aren't they?"

Sango nodded her head "Like its anything new. It's an every day occurrence in our house hold. We just ran out before we got caught in the cross fire once again."

"Well you know you guys can always stay with us when you need too." Taking Sangos hand in hers Kagome gave it a light squeeze.

"Thanks guys."

Sango and Kohaku didn't have life much easier than they did. Her father over worked himself and her mother was surprisingly the drunk of the family. Both disliked each other and were always fighting. Kagome woke up many nights a week from hearing some one slide her bedroom window open only to see Sango and Kohaku climbing in.

She didn't mind though, come to think of it, most of their friends used her house as a safe house. Probably because her father was always passed out cold and hardly gave them trouble or was just never there for days even weeks at a time.

"So Souta did you guys happen to bring any weapons?" Kohaku asked out of no where.

"Yeah, we always do. Why?"

"I heard that a few members of that gang of robbers… what was their name Sango?"

"The Taishos?" She asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah them! A few of them are being held over in the jail for getting too rowdy last night at a bar. Never know when they will get out, what if we run into them!"

"Oh please, I'm not scared of a bunch of robbers! I can take them!" Souta boasted while puffing out his chest.

His four companions couldn't help but laugh. "Oh yeah Souta, I can't tell you how safe I feel knowing that you are around." Kagome joked while wiping a tear from her eye.

"Suree sure, go on and kid around! We'll see what you guys have to say if we meet up with them!"

o0o0o0o

The ride into town went by quickly; the boys agreed to stay out of trouble as they went in the opposite direction as the girls.

Kagome decided that all four of them needed new shoes since they still had to get through the rest of the summer not to mention fall. Kikyo left the shoe buying to Kagome and Sango as she gathered the flour and thread she had mentioned earlier plus a few other items.

"Can I get you anything else Kikyo?" Mrs. Smith smiled at the young lady before her.

Looking around at the items on the counter Kikyo spotted the perfect gift for Souta and Kohaku. "Yes, can you add some of those sweets also?"

"Of course, always spoiling your younger cousin I see."

Smiling slightly at the older woman Kikyo agreed. Placing the candy into a little bag Mrs. Smith added up the final total. "It'll be 10 cents my dear."

Placing the money on the counter Kikyo gathered her items before bidding the store owner a good day.

"You didn't have to do that Kagome; I don't know how I'm going to repay you!"

"Would you stop it?" Kagome said in a hushed voice.

"You know we have money to spear… its just we need to manage how we spend it and where! No one else in town not even our dad knows we found mothers buried money. Now shut up and take the damn shoes."

Nodding her head Sango didn't say another word so she didn't cause a scene. Kagome always did things like this for her friends, if they needed clothing or food she never asked if they wanted them she just bought them and gave it to them not caring if they protested or not.

Of course they watched how they spent the money and kept these daily jobs to keep the image that they had no money to spare, saying they only bought extra items when they had enough saved up.

Paying for the shoes Kagome grabbed Sangos pulling her out of the store so they could meet back up with Kikyo. The boys had already parked the cart in front of the grocery story and were helping Kikyo with the bags.

"Get everything you guys need?" The boys nodded their heads holding up some bags with ammo in it. Shaking her head Sango jumped up into the back of the cart and started moving the bags around so they had a place to sit on the ride back to Kagomes.

"Everybody out of the street! Riders are coming in fast!"

Anyone with in ear shot heeded the warning and got out of the streets not wanting to get ran down by a group of horse riders. Ignoring their remarks since she was obviously not in the way Kagome walked over in front of their horse Chef and fed him a carrot before they started back out.

Not long after the warning had been called out a wave of dust came flooding into town causing some to shield their eyes. When everything settled down and the dust cleared; it reviled four figures on horses along with two spares.

Kagome couldn't figure out why every one was starting at them; they were just guys, probably some trouble markers but nothing big, at least in Kagomes eyes.

Waving of the shouting behind her Kagome continued to feed the horse his snack. Out of no where she found herself forced to the ground as something hard ran into her.

"Ow! What the hell!" Kagome yelled pushing the hair out of her face. "Shouldn't you be watching where you're walk….." Her ranting was soon silenced as her eyes finally landed on her assailant.

'_Gorgeous…._' was the only thought she seemed to have after that. Holding out his hand he offered to help her up" Please forgive me Miss….?"

"Uhm… Kagome. My name is Kagome." Taking him up on his offer she took a hold of his hand and soon found herself standing back on her feet but now she was face to face with the most handsome guy she has ever seen. She was starting to miss being on the ground.

Smirking at the innocent female before him he couldn't help but chuckle softly. "Please forgive me Miss Kagome. I was totally at fault, is there any way I could possibly make it up to you?"

Kagome tried to swallow the lump that was now forming in her throat. Oh the possibilities of that question. Wait what was she thinking! She was a virgin, an innocent in all the word and her she was thinking perverted about a man… yes a man that she had just met! Hell she didn't even know his name.

Licking her now dry lips she seemed to find her voice once again. "Your name… please tell me your name."

"Very well then… Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru Taisho." He had expected a different reaction out of the girl, perhaps for her to draw her form a way from his and run? Not many people stood so closely to his person once they found out that he was the legendary learner of the Taisho gang.

But all she did was smile then proceeded to repeat his name seemingly liking how it rolled of her tongue. He would never admit it but the way she was just standing there so casually staring deeply into his eyes made him a bit nervous.

"Oi! Sorry to interrupt the moment but we have business to take care Sesshoumaru!" Silently he cursed his little brothers loud mouth, but on the other hand it did give him a reason to look else where beside at the young woman.

As if just now noticing how close she was standing by Sesshoumaru she backed away slightly; shaking her head trying to recall what had just happened.

"We don't have time for you to be messin' around trying to get laid damnit! So get that other asshole out here and let's go!"

o0o0o0o

Noticing the loud mouth was directing his rants at Sesshoumaru, Kagome raised an eyebrow at the statement. '_Trying to get laid? They were just talking how could he possibly think he was trying to get laid! Unless…_' Her eyes narrowed as she fixed her glare on the other white headed male. '_He thinks I'm a call girl! Why the nerve!_'

The rest of Kagomes party were watching the whole thing play out, the decided to see what Kagome would do once Sesshoumaru had relieved whom he was; and not their surprise she had done nothing. But now the younger of the Taisho brothers was in around about way insulting her they knew once it clicked Kagome would surely want to give him a beating.

Noticing that look in her eye Sango jumped out of the cart running over to Kagome.

"Why you loud mouthed son of a bitch!" balling her hand up in a fist she started stomping over to the one who dared to insult her.

Glancing at the male beside him he asked puzzled "What the hell is that wench blabbing about?"

Shaking his head; sighing a black haired male replied " It would seem Inuyasha, you have insulted her by making the claim that your brother was trying to pick her up."

"So! That's what it looked like from here!"

"Some one needs to teach you some manners and I'll even be nice enough not to charge for the first lesson!" Before she could reach Inuyasha and give him the beating she thought he so rightfully deserved Sango grabbed her arm pulling her back towards the cart.

"Crazy Bitch! Are you crazy? Don't you know who I am!" Inuyasha couldn't believe she was actually going to try and hurt him!

Struggling to get out of the hold Sango had on her she kept shooting back remarks. "I don't care who you are!"

The sheriff must have heard all the noise and came out side to see what the commotion was about. "You guys are free to leave so you had better do so before I change my mind and arrest all six of you this time!"

Naraku was just now making his way out of the jail house brushed past the hot headed sheriff. Mounting his horse he stared at Sesshoumaru to follow. A nod of the head was his only response as he walked over to the now seething Kagome. Flashing his pearly white at the young girl he ignored the glares he was receiving from what he could have guessed to be her family.

"Again I offer my apologies this time for the rude remarks made by my brother." Before he took his leave he gently took her hand and placed a kiss to the back of it. With out another word he was on his horse heading out of town with the rest of the gang following behind.

Twice in one meeting that man had caused her to stop breathing. Snapping back to reality Kagome noticed everyone was staring at her, it kind of gave her the creeps. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

Sweat dropping the five teens shook their heads before loading up in the cart. The ride home was somewhat quiet every now and then Kagome would catch someone staring at her again it was starting to piss her off.

She couldn't stand it any more, slamming a fist down against the side of the cart; causing everyone else to jump "Out with it! Why do you keep staring at me that way!"

"You do know you just basically cheated death right?" Kohaku asked

"What are you talking about? I don't recall anything life threating happening earlier."

Sighing out loud Kikyo took it upon herself to explain. "That was the Taisho gang Kagome. The one who knocked you over was their leader; he's known for not hesitating to kill or showing anyone mercy if they cross him in any way. The others were Inuyasha; Sesshoumarus younger brother. Naraku, Hiten, Kouga and lastly Miroku."

"And? I didn't do anything to Sesshoumaru and Sango over here stopped me before I could beat some sense into the one you called Inuyasha."

"They could have shot you Kagome!" Sango all but yelled at her.

Souta again couldn't stop from laughing which earned a few confused looks. "I doubt Sesshoumaru would have shot her. From the looks of things I would say he had something else on his mind."

"You're such a pervert." Kagome said before hitting him on the back of the head.

"Hey! It's true! Why else would he kiss your hand? I've never heard of the leader of the Taisho gang doing anything like that! I think hell has frozen over!"

"Whatever." Kagome didn't feel like discussing the matter any further but that didn't stop her from thinking about it. '_Why did he kiss me…?_'

o0o0o0o

No one else said anything else about the events that happened in town they we now focused on the chores that needed to be done before night time fell. To their surprise it wasn't a lot, the girls were to meet their other friends at the near by stream so they could do the daily clothes washing and the boys were to go tend to the animals before going hunting.

Hitching another horse to the extra cart so that Chef could rest for awhile, the girls loaded it down with the clothes that they had promised to clean. It wasn't as bad as some might think; having friends around to help do the work made the time go by much faster plus while they waited for them to dry; they usually swam around; sun bathed or simply rested.

"Wait until the others hear about Kagomes new lover!" Sango stated teasingly.

Suddenly feeling the need to push her best friend out of the cart but settled for glaring instead. "Knock it off would you!"

"Touuuchy!" Keade chimed in out of no where.

Much to Kagomes relief they were finally at the stream and by the looks of it so were the rest of their friends. Throwing the bags of clothes over the side of the cart Kagome jumped down followed by Sango.

Kikyo helped her younger sister down so she didn't fall and smiled as she saw Kannas little figure running up to help. Not wasting any time the younger girls grabbed each other hands and started skipping down towards the stream; leaving the older females with the task of moving the clothes by themselves.

Kagome had never watched to die in all her years of living on this earth. They just didn't know when to stop did they? Damn them all! She tried to hurry along with washing her share of the clothes so she could just swim out to the deeper end of the stream and away from them.

Ayame whistled softly before smirking at Kagome. "So he really kissed you huh? You lucky devil you!"

"Would you guys please stop it! You act like he kissed me on the lips or something! Plus its not like I'll ever see him again so what does it matter!" Throwing the washed clothes on the rocks to dry Kagome stomped off into waist deep water before diving under.

"Maybe we should back off on the teasing." Five heads turned in Kagures direction thinking she had gone mad; well before they saw her smirk that is. "But what's the fun in that?" Ah, there was the Kagura they knew.

"You know you guys should just stay over at our house tonight since Sango already is. My uncle was already passed out when we got back from town." Every one else agreed, its not like they really wanted to return to their houses any how.

The rest of their little group consisted of a fiery red headed pig tailed girl named Ayame who was a few months older than Kagome. Ayame was an only child whom was currently being raised by her grandfather. She loved him dearly but he care more about his land and business and saw no real place for Ayame in his life.

He usually forgot to leave her any money for food supplies when he went on trips; when they had first met her she was skin and bones but thanks to the others they had showed her how to plant her own garden and hunt for herself since she had no one to show her how.

Kagura was the hot head of the group; she lived with her abusive father and a whore she dare call a mother. She was hardly seen with out a bruise some where on her body; usually from getting in between her father and her little sister Kanna. She never wanted her sister to know what the feeling of being beat by the ones whom gave you your so called life felt like.

Of course Kanna made an excellent play mate for Keade, you couldn't pry the two apart once they got together.

And Kaguya who was old and mature was. Kikyo was. She had long black hair with deep greenish tints here and there. She lived with her mother who basically lived in the saloons making money any way she could; leaving Kaguya to fend for herself. It didn't take long after the six of them met to become back friends.

o0o0o0o

Feeling like she had cooled down a little Kagome swam back to the swallow end of the stream and proceeded to walk over to the others. Ringing the water out of her hair she contemplated apologizing to them all; coming closer to them she suddenly noticed how quiet they had become.

Tossing her hair over her shoulder she stared at them all '_What are they looking at now?_' Following their gaze with her own she now understood the need for silence. '_Well so much for never seeing him again._'

With out thinking about it she stomped out of the water towards the six men on horse back.

He and his men were just looking for a place to rest their horses for a while never did he believe fate would toss him into the same woman twice in one day. Not caring if it seemed unlike him he dismounted his horse once he saw the young woman began to come his way.

"Are you following us or something?" She asked curtly while placing her hands on her hips. She might have been taken more seriously if it wasn't for the fact that she was in a bathing suit and still dripping wet from her swim.

Not really caring about the way she looked she began to tap her foot impatiently from him not responding right away. "Well? Are you going to answer or you just going to simply stare?"

"Perhaps if you had the decency to cover up it would not give one the reason to stare." He smirked momentarily before putting his serious look back on.

"Why I… how could! ARGH! You two are the rudest males I have ever met!"

Fearing this time she actually might get herself killed the other ran up to her rescue. This did not go unnoticed by the males; basically what had caught their eyes was the bouncing movement their tops seemed to make every time their feet touched the ground from running.

Kikyo spoke softly when she saw that her cousin was not harmed. "Please forgive her mouth, she was just merely wondering what business you gentleman had here?"

"Hn." Was the only reply Sesshoumaru gave her as he settled his gaze back on Kagomes form.

Rubbing the back of his head Miroku saw that his leader was not going to answer the other female. "We merely wish to rest our horses before continuing on our way. But if we are going to be in the way perhaps it would be better if…"

"No! You aren't in the way; the stream is more than bigger enough for us all…" Sango could believe she had just said what she did. When the others sent her a sharp glare all she could do was shrug.

"As long as they don't try anything! You know what ever one says about them and being womanizers!" Ayame huffed as she crossed her arms.

"Ah! Then it is settled then! We shall share this stream with these lovely ladies for the time being." Miroku smiled as he dismounted his steed.

"Like always… he's thinking between his legs." Inuyasha spat out before him and the others followed suit in dismounting.

Well Kagome wasn't going to be here any longer than she had to be, not after how that ass had just treated her. Mumbling the whole way back to the clothes she didn't notice the tall figure following closely behind.

"Do you always talk to yourself little one?" The sound of his voice nearly caused her to jump.

"Go away. I have work to do and it doesn't concern you." She tried to will herself to ignore him but he was standing so close it was starting to effect her thinking.

"Do you mind?"

Knowing perfectly well what she had meant he decided to play dumb for once; for some reason he liked aggravating this female. "No not at all."

Throwing her arms up in the air she let out a groan of annoyance. "No, of course you wouldn't. You're not the one who is having their space invaded."

"Hn. No I suppose not." He resisted the urge to smirk when she shot him a death glare.

"Why are you standing her with me and not over with the rest of your gang." She asked while folding the clothes that seemed to be dry.

"They don't need me to instruct them on how to water horses."

"Oh. Hey uhm…never mind." This caused him to raise an eyebrow at her; why did she suddenly seem nervous?

"If you have something to say then simply say it."

"Fine you jerk! Whydidyoukissmyhandbackintown?" She said the last part quickly hopping on some level that he didn't hear; but unfortunately he had caught ever word.

"Did I need a reason to kiss you?" He stated more than asked.

"Well no its just that… uhm well…" She was in a bind now but she really did want to know why he did it. Its not like she was an expert on why males did the things they did or anything!

"Its just I've never had a guy give me attention like that before and I was just wondering what had caused you to do it…" Sesshoumaru turned out everything after that; did the girl never stop talking? At least his suspensions were correct about the female before him; she was untouched and pure.

Before she could continue on with her rambling she was suddenly silenced by a pair of soft lips pressing against hers. Stiffening slightly she soon relaxed melting into the heat of the moment.

Satisfied with himself Sesshoumaru pulled away from the one named Kagome; trailing his eyes over her now confused face.

"I didn't need a reason for that one either." He whispered.

o0o0o0o

She was going to reply but was cut off by hearing someone call out her name. Looking over his shoulder she saw Sango motioning for her to come on; nodding her head she stood up and began to gather the remaining clothes.

Deciding she should say another word to him or more like she couldn't find the words she started toward the others. A hand reached out stopped her before she could get very far though.

She felt a shiver go down her spin as he gently blew across her ear before speaking softly " I wish to see you again."

Letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding she closed her eyes trying not to focus on what he was causing her body to feel. When she didn't reply he smirked into her hair. "Meet me tonight at midnight, in this very spot."

All she could bring herself to do was nod her head in fear of what would could out if she happened to speak.

"Very well until then my Kagome." With a light kiss to her cheek he left her arm go and her continue on her way.

She walked as fast as her feet would carry her with out running. The girls were bidding the other men farewell when Kagome arrived back at the cart; not bothering to make eye contact with anyone else she simply jumped into the back praying the others would hurry.

Watching as the females headed out to where every they were going; a few of the males sighed. Naraku noticed that Sesshoumaru had finally rejoined them.

Sending his friend a knowing smirk he figured he might as well voice what he already knew. "You're going to see her again aren't you?"

This caught the attention of the guys needless to say. "What's he talking about Sesshoumaru?" Kouga asked while plopping down between a nearby tree.

"She will be back tonight as I instructed her to be." Sesshoumaru stated as if it were nothing big.

"Feh! You get to get laid tonight by some wench you just met and what do you expect us to do?"

"Inuyahsa you are truly an idiot you know that?" Hiten said dryly "Did you not notice she had other friends with her. _Female_ friends mind you; enough for everyone else at this camp."

It then hit him like a ton of bricks; well no one ever accused him of being the thinking type.

"Inuyasha."

Not even bothering to look at his brother he simply through out an annoyed '_what_'

"If you ever insult her again be it to her face or in front of someone else you'll wish you were never born." Knowing that he would make good on his threats Inuyasha didn't even bother to reply right now. He would question him about it later; what was so special about that young girl that had his brother so defensive of her.

Inuyasha wasn't the only one who noticed how Sesshoumaru was acting; the others only hoped this didn't effect how he acted while they were in the middle of… well… what they considered '_work_'. Meaning if he had to shot someone while robbing a bank or a stage coach he could still do it.

He was known for being a cold blooded killer when it came to either kill or be killed. Hopefully this new turn of events wouldn't change him; a few shook their heads at the thought; like a mere girl could possible melt his heart of ice. If they only knew they were all in for a rude awakening.

o0o0o0o

Ah...well there you have it! The first chapter! Please let me know if you liked it or not! Review :)


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